Flying from Los Angeles to New York and then back to Los Angeles all in one day was a lot of flying for anyone. Demi had become used to flying all over the place all the time but that didn't make it any less tiring. She was exhausted and the thought of her soft bed with her goose feather pillows and her favorite cashmere blanket embracing her as soon as she got home was what kept her awake on the car ride there. Before buying her house, she had seriously contemplated moving closer to LAX since she was barely at home anyways, and she was cursing herself for not moving closer now.
"Dems, we're here." She had closed her eyes for a brief moment to just take everything in but she had ended up dosing off. She was glad to see the sight of her huge, but lonely, house. It was unlit because she honestly hadn't been there in days and it was probably cold as well. But Wilmer had went out of town for the next week to film his TV show and she didn't even really know or care to know what Trey was doing so she didn't have any choice but to enter her house all by herself.
"Have a good night Demi," Max, her bodyguard, said as Demi just nodded and shot him a tired smile. Max had a little daughter at home that he barely got to see so she was thankful for everything that he did for her, and everything that he protected her from. Using her key, Demi unlocked the doors to her house and pushed them open. She flicked the switch that was next to the door and watched her house light up. It was airy and modern and it was perfect for her. But it just didn't feel like home. It felt like a party house, a vacation house that she only visited when she felt like escaping the reality of what her life actually was.
"Home sweet home," she muttered, dropping her suitcase bag by the door after digging her phone and charger out of it. Jhene had texted her to tell her that she couldn't hang out because she had to go to the studio but Demi had been in the air so she was just now seeing it.
Walking further into her house, she wrapped her arms around herself and stopped in the kitchen to check on the mail that was piling up on the counter. She shifted through the bills and various letters from her label and some fan mail that had somehow found its way to her house. She stopped when she saw a yellow envelope with a stamp that had the number three in it.
Knowing exactly who it was from, she snatched the letter off of the counter and jogged into her living room. She turned on her gas fireplace and threw the letter in there, watching the letter burn up. One day she would have the courage to open one of those letters but today wasn't that day.
As soon as Demi entered her room, she didn't even bother to change her clothes. She plugged her phone up and then collapsed on her bed. She crawled under the covers and let them shield her from the loneliness of her house. There had always been a huge difference to her between being alone and being lonely. Demi liked to be alone. She liked the solitary and the chance to be alone with her thoughts. But the feeling of loneliness was something that she didn't enjoy, something that she didn't welcome. Because though she liked being alone with her thoughts, sometimes they were just too much for her to bear.
"Would you ever do coke?" Demi questioned as she licked the rolled joint that Trey had passed her closed before handing it back to him. Needless to say, her management had decided that she could use what they called a "mercy day" and gave her the day off. That just meant that she would have to work 10x harder for the rest of the week. It annoyed her but she needed a day off more than anything so she had accepted their offer and headed over to Trey's house.
"Coke? Like cocaine? Hell no Demi, what the hell is wrong with you?" He questioned as he lit the end of his joint and deeply inhaled before blowing the smoke out of his mouth in a thick yet misty puff.
"I don't do it. I was just asking because Jhene and I were at this club last weekend and some guys offered it to us. I contemplated it but considering..." Demi trailed off and shook her head, not wanting to get onto that topic. Since she wasn't gonna talk about it, Trey decided to change the subject.
"You looked like an angel when you first walked in," he randomly said as Demi quirked one of her eyebrows and looked at him. He extended the joint to her so she took a hit, puffing out circles just like Jhene had taught her to do before handing it back to him.
"I was half asleep and you're wearing all white. I thought I was dreaming or something. White is a good color on you. It makes you look innocent even though we both know that you aren't," Trey further explained as Demi rolled her eyes. When she got high, she was giggly and obnoxious and childish, which was just an enhancement of the way that she already was. But when Trey got high, he got deep and said things that he thought made sense but of course they never did. It was adorable and annoying because once the high drifted away he never even remembered what he said.
"You're not so innocent either baby," she whispered before pecking the side of his jaw. She didn't usually wear a lot of white because she was the type of person that felt as if everything had a very significant meaning behind it, including colors. White was the color of purity and innocence and everyone who knew her, really knew her, would know that those were not attributions that she had.
"Would you ever make a sex tape? With me?" Trey chuckled, passing the joint over to Demi once he figured that he was done with it.
"With all the sex tapes that are getting leaked nowadays? No thanks." As soon as she was finished talking, she heard the shutter of an iPhone camera and groaned as she realized that Trey was snapping pictures of her smoking.
"Trey," she whined, reaching for his phone but he held it above his head, sending her that ugly smirk of his that caused the skin around his eyes to crinkle as he balanced himself on his knees.
"You just look so perfect right now, like my own personal angel," he cooed, continuing to snap pictures of her before she tackled him to the bed and snatched the phone out of his hand while she had him pinned down. The redness of his eyes contrasted against the copper color of his iris and Demi looked away before she could even begin to drown in his gaze.
"I'm never wearing white around you again," she mumbled before rolling off of him. Contrary to popular belief, Demi didn't just go over there to have sex with Trey all the time. He actually was one of her best friends and it was nice to hang out with him without it turning into some all-day sexathon, even if it often did.
The weirdest thing about being in Trey's house, in his bed, was the fact that he had a mirror right above his head. And it wasn't a small mirror either. It covered the entire area of the ceiling that the bed covered on the ground so whenever they were over his house, which was often, Demi transformed into a top. Watching herself have sex was uncomfortable as hell but Trey always got some type of weird kinky pleasure out of it.
"But let's talk about this sex tape thing," Trey said causing Demi to chuckle and roll onto her side, balancing her head on her elbow as she stared at Trey who was laying in the same position as her.
"If you wanna make a sex tape so bad why don't you make one with your girlfriend? I'm sure she would love that," Demi exaggerated with a smirk because she knew that Trey would get irritated. He always did when she brought up Mila while they were together. Not to get the wrong idea, Trey really did like Mila and care about her, but he didn't like to talk about her when he and Demi were together. He said that it just "ruined the mood." Demi didn't have a problem with Mila. She saw her more often than she felt she needed to, but she was her best friend's sister and they pretty much hung out in the same circle. Even though she was having sex with Trey behind Mila's back, she really didn't want anything that Mila had. She was doing her thing and Mila was doing hers, and that was that.
"Because it wouldn't be as hot as one with me and you would be," he leaned in as he talked and grasped her side in his hand as he moved in closer. Demi craned her neck, allowing his hot mouth to trail open mouth kisses along it, pushing her hair out of the way as he pushed her down on the bed and straddled her, but being careful not to put all of his weight on her.
He sucked on her sweet spot, the one right underneath her left collarbone, before trailing back up to her defined jawline. Demi released a broken moan but moved her head so that Trey wouldn't be able to kiss her lips. The only rule that she had was that he didn't kiss her lips and no matter how many times she explained it to him, he still didn't understand it.
"TREY!" They immediately broke apart as they heard Mila's voice. Demi scurried off of the bed and into his bathroom to fix her smeared lipstick and hide the love bite that he had left on her neck. Trey fixed the covers on his bed and cleaned up the weed and the melted chocolate that they were supposed to eat. Just as Mila walked in, he was throwing the chocolates away and Demi was reapplying her lipstick.
"I didn't know you were coming back today," Trey said, greeting his girlfriend with a hug. Mila was gorgeous. She wasn't as thick as Demi but she was still beautiful, and she was just right for him. She didn't wear weave so her hair naturally reached just a little bit past her shoulders to touch the beginning of her chest. Where Demi only wore makeup when she absolutely had to, Mila's face was always done up. But what he lacked in feelings for Demi, he made up for with Mila. He would always just have sex with Demi, nothing else, because Demi honestly didn't have anything else to offer to him. But Mila had everything. He couldn't see them getting married yet, but he was serious about her, even if it seemed like he wasn't.
"Yeah, I finished up everything yesterday so that I could come back today. Baby I missed you," Mila cooed, wrapping her arms around his neck and bringing him for a sweet kiss. That was the nice thing about Mila too. She could kiss like no other. Her lips were nothing but magic.
"I-"
Trey was cut off by the sound of the toilet in his bathroom flushing and then Demi appeared. Her lipstick and stuff was fixed and she casually smiled as she exited the bathroom. Mila's grin was gone and was replaced with a scowl as Demi grabbed her signature Dolce and Gabbana purse and her phone before stepping in front of the couple. The mark that Trey knew that he had left on her collarbone was gone and he had to give her props for not allowing her face to give away the fact that she had almost had sex with him in the bed that he and Mila were gonna make love on tonight.
"Hey Mila, how was your trip? Where did you go again?" Demi questioned, as if she actually cared. She played with the ends of her long white cardigan that flowed over the tasteful ripped denim shorts that she was wearing.
"New York for PR stuff as usual. What are you doing over here?"
"Hanging out with my best friend. But I really gotta head out. Dallas just texted me and she wants to hang out," Demi smoothly lied. She eyed Trey before exiting the bathroom and jogging out of the house to her shiny car. She threw her purse in the passenger seat next to her before starting her car up. Was it bad that she didn't feel the least bit guilty that she almost had sex with Mila's boyfriend and then smiled in her face as if she wasn't helping her boyfriend cheat on her? No...she didn't think so. Trey, after all, had technically been hers first.
Demi had been lying about her older sister texting her and that being the reason why she had to leave. She wasn't lying about having to leave though. Every week her mother sent her some sappy text about how she had seen one of her interviews and how she was just so proud of her for living her dreams that she just had to express that pride by cooking her some gigantic dinner that she knew Demi would never eat. Every week Demi bought into it, giving her mother the benefit of the doubt and praying that she wasn't just luring her over there so they could guilt trip her for some more money, and every week Demi was disappointed. This week was no different.
"We just have some bills to pay, that's all," Dianna said once everyone was settled down at the table and eating what she thought was Demi's favorite meal. It wasn't. Demi hated eating fish. It always made her nauseous so she didn't even touch it.
"How could you have bills to pay when your bills get sent to my house?" Demi wasn't completely heartless. She did love her parents and felt obligated to take care of them after everything that they had done for her but there was a limit. Her parents weren't old. They were capable of getting jobs and making their own money instead of lounging around all day and allowing her little sister to run their house.
"Sweetie, we're not asking for a lot. We're family, and families take care of each other. Dallas needs a little bit of help too, you know with that useless baby daddy of hers not giving her a dime to help take care of Lola," Dianna trailed off as Dallas shot her a look.
Demi had two sisters, an older one named Dallas who she seriously didn't get along with, and a younger one named Maddie who she loved dearly but also couldn't stand because her parents had morphed her into a little brat. Dallas had a four year old daughter named Lola after getting knocked up in Atlanta by some rapper who was at a stop on his tour and was just looking for a good time. That wasn't why Demi had a problem with her though. Dallas was a cokehead, a major cokehead, and instead of spending the money that Demi offered to her on very rare occasions on her daughter, it was spent on drugs. Demi just didn't have any respect for someone who put their needs and desires above their children, family or not.
"I'll take Lola for the week. Lola, you wanna come hang out with me for a week, get away from these crazy people?" Demi questioned, looking over at her four year old niece who eagerly nodded her head and started to eat her food with new vigor.
"Don't you think that you're too busy to be chasing after a four year old?" Dallas spat, as if she wasn't talking about her own daughter.
"Don't you think that you should be using the little money that you have to take care of your four year old?" Demi was ready to go home. She really could only handle her family in small doses and even then she didn't like to be around them. They all treated her like their own personal ATM and she was sick of it.
"I'm done here. I'm taking Lola for a week and not giving any of you any money because why the hell should I when you people only talk to me when you need money? All of you, except for Madison, are more than capable of getting jobs," Demi snarled before turning to Lola with a smile on her face.
"Let's go get you packed up for the week, okay?" Demi suggested, helping Lola off of the chair and leading her away from her family.
"What about my food?"
"Trust me, we'll grab something much better to eat on the way home."
Demi loved when she got to take care of Lola. It was the only reason why she semi - tolerated her family. Lola was the most adorable little girl in the entire world and no one could fight her on that. Her dad was black, Dallas just wouldn't tell her who he was, so she had dark skin, almost the color of smooth caramel. She had big eyes that were the color of a Hershey's chocolate bar, and her hair was always in out of control coils because Dallas really didn't take good care of it. But when she was with her, Demi did.
Before they went home, Demi took her to the toy store and even though she had packed clothes, Demi took her to the mall to get new ones. They got her a new swim suit since Demi had a pool at her house and a new bed set for the room that Demi always let her stay in when she came over. After that, they went to her favorite fast food place, which was Halo Burger for some reason, and then they finally went home.
"I like staying with you Auntie Demi," Lola admitted through a wide and long yawn. They had watched her favorite movie, The Princess and the Frog - because Lola loved that Princess Tiana looked just like her - and then had a dance party to some of the songs off of Demi's old album and the new one that no one had heard yet.
"I'm glad that you do. Is it better than staying with your mommy?" Demi questioned, sweeping Lola off of the ground and carrying her upstairs so that she could go to bed. She looked too cute with her hair in two buns on top of her head and her Minnie Mouse onesie. Demi would have to remember to snap a picture in the morning.
"Yeah because we get to do what I wanna do," Lola said, wrapping her arms and her legs around Demi as she carried her up the winding staircase. "I wish it was like this all the time."
Demi wished that too, but she had to be realistic. She was 22 years old at the very peak of her career. Most of the time, she could barely make time to care for herself, so how could she permanently take care of a four year old? Dallas lived with her parents so she always had people who could take care of Lola when she couldn't, which was most of the time. But Demi lived alone and she was always on the go. If it wasn't for her job, Demi would hire the best lawyer and fight Dallas for Lola's custody. But sadly, she was a 22 year old superstar who couldn't just take time off to take care of her niece, even if she wanted to.
"Why don't you get some sleep so that we can wake up and go out to breakfast then go get our nails done like I promised?" Demi said as she tucked her into the huge bed in one of her guest rooms. It was hard finding a queen sized Princess Tiana comforter but Demi had done it and Lola couldn't be happier.
"Can you sing?" Demi climbed into bed with her and wrapped her arms around her, deciding to sing her one of her favorite songs that just happened to be by her best friend.
"At forty four minutes to four, an angel walked up to my door, opened the windows to my soul, told me he thinks I should know, there's no slowing down as the globe spins around and around. You gotta keep going, you gotta keep going, you gotta keep going...if there's one thing that I learned while in those county lines, it's that everything take times you have gotta lose your pide, you have gotta lose your mind just to find your peace of mind, you have got to trust the signs, everything will work out fine. So why aren't you smiling? Why aren't you smiling? Why aren't you smiling? Why aren't you smiling..." she trailed off as she noticed that Lola was sleeping against her chest. Demi didn't want to risk waking her up by moving so she settled down in the bed and embraced her niece in her arms as she fell asleep as well.